by K. A. Tucker
“What do I have to do?” The words rushed out of my mouth without thought. I would do anything for them. Anything.
“Choose them.” Incendia glided around the bowl toward me, his feet never touching the jungle floor. I had to tip my head back to look at his face, looming high over me.
“That’s all?” That seemed easy. Too easy.
Choose.
A choice.
A difference between this or that.
“Choose them over what?” I asked, stealing a glance at Sofie, hoping she understood what was going on.
Sofie’s expression twitched for only a second and then, with a nod of comprehension, a sad smile curved her lips. “Let’s make this easy, Terra.”
“No!” Incendia barked. “My player will be victorious through fair means.”
“You call this fair?” Sofie yelled but her words were quickly lost to me, Incendia’s statement stealing my attention.
“Your player?” My brow tightened. “I’m your player? What does that mean?” Again, I looked at Sofie for answers.
She smoothed her scowl, closing her eyes. She was trying to calm herself. “When I told you that this was all a game to the Fates, I meant it quite literally. They each choose an unsuspecting pawn as their player. There were two more but I don’t know who they were. They are dead. Now the Fates have pitted us against each other.” A long exhale escaped her lips. “I’m offering to end this game for them.”
It finally clicked.
We were both players, against each other.
They wanted me to choose everyone else over Sofie.
They wanted Sofie to die.
“I won’t do it!” I yelled.
“You will.” Incendia stuck his hand out and the other male Fate placed the marble—Earth—in it. Letting it roll around his palm momentarily, he finally held it between his forefinger and thumb. When he spoke again, the pleasant tenor was gone. “Or I will crush this world and every soul within it and you will have nothing.”
An ultimatum. That’s what they were giving me. It’s Sofie or the entire world. Ironic, really. Hadn’t Sofie faced this same situation—either Amelie or the world? She’d had to make a choice, and she did.
But how could I make this choice? This was Sofie!
“It’s okay.” Sofie’s voice cracked. “I will gladly sacrifice myself for your happiness.” Her smile dropped as she turned her attention back to the wall of faces, waiting for me to condemn her to die. “But first, I have to wonder what the rush is? Why does this game need to end now?”
“Because we decided that it must be so,” Terra threw back. “Do not question us, mortal!”
Sofie’s eyes narrowed. “Do not trust them, Evangeline. They will lie to get—”
Sofie’s words were cut off with shrill screams as flames erupted around her, swallowing her entire body.
Burning her alive where she stood.
I didn’t think. I simply reacted. “No!” I shrieked, shattering the watery surface over the bowl of worlds.
The flames extinguished instantly and Sofie, unharmed, again stood in the conjured setting of the jungle.
The Fates exchanged a panicked look before settling eyes on me again.
A look of understanding filled Sofie’s face. Her words came out in a rush. “They didn’t give you these powers. Fight them, Evangeline! You can—”
She vanished before I could hear her last words.
“What have you done with her?” I screamed, turning to the four faces that no longer held any beauty or serenity.
“She is where she belongs,” Terra spat, her features curled into a hideous sneer as she pointed toward the pool. The layer of water I’d shattered reappeared and displayed a fresh scene of Manhattan, one where Sofie stood surrounded by Caden and the others. Caden’s eyes burned with hatred as he shouted at Sofie. As he threw her against a wall. As Mage jumped in to stop Caden, only to have Sofie attacked by Amelie and Fiona, all asking the same thing. “What did you do to her?”
That spine-chilling laughter once again filled my ears. “Not exactly what we planned but it will still work. One of them will surely kill her and then you will be victorious. You have avoided making the difficult decision. We both win,” Incendia smiled. I was about to snap at him, to tell him that watching my loved ones kill each other over a game was not winning, when Incendia brushed his willowy hand across my back.
And voices suddenly filled my thoughts.
How long will this take? A female asked.
Not long, I expect. Look at their rage, a male answered.
We must send her back immediately after. This is dangerous, another female demanded.
She will go back immediately. And then I will crush her world and she can be no more harm to us.
I gasped. The Fates could communicate telepathically with each other and somehow, with that one touch, I was now eavesdropping on them!
I knew their plan. Sofie was right; they had lied. They had no intention of letting me live my life in peace.
Their faces contorted with panic. They had figured out that I could hear their private conversation. But, how was that possible?
Sofie’s words hit me.
Because I shared their same power.
And they didn’t give it to me. I was somehow harmful to them.
“We should not have brought her here!” Terra screamed. The ground shook as she lifted her hands. A wall of thick, black soil suddenly formed behind her, bursting from the ground with force that would swallow anything in its path.
Each Fate quickly followed suit, forming walls of scorching fire and turbulent wind and a whirlpool of water, expanding until their borders joined, the deafening sound rattling my entire body, crippling my ability to think. A united front, they glided closer, deliberately, as if capturing a dangerous threat.
Even against the earsplitting noise, Sofie’s last words demanded my attention and I fought to latch on to them. I could fight them, she had said.
But how?
My chest constricted but then released as their walls closed in, as I began to feel the heat of fire on my back and the suffocation of soil over my head. They were going to consume me with their power. I was going to die here. I would not get to live out the peace I so desperately wanted, or say goodbye to my friends. I would die, and Sofie would die. And for what? A game?
I closed my eyes as that intoxicating feeling still lingering within me began to bubble, thriving off the fear that the Fates had created in this vacuum of power, driven by an even more commanding need: revenge. I’d suffered at the hands of Viggo and Rachel, of the Sentinel and the witches, even at the hands of Sofie. But none of them were the real threat.
The Fates had always been the true threat.
I didn’t want to fight them. I wanted to choose my own fate.
I wanted them gone.
The noise suddenly vanished.
I inhaled deeply before I dared open my eyes …
I was surrounded by a white nothingness. The large bowl stood before me, thousands of tiny worlds quietly waiting.
The jungle was gone.
As were the Fates.
A moment of alarm hit me until I zeroed in on the pedestal to see the marble sitting atop it again. With merely a thought, I stood before it, marveling at its size, wondering how it was possible that something so small could contain everything that I could ever want within it.
I was just about to touch it when something fluttered behind me.
I turned to find hundreds of butterflies appear out of the nothingness, their iridescent wings glimmering through rays of sunshine, though where the sun was, I could not see.
Iridescent like the Fates’ eyes. Was this a trick? False hope?
I watched with suspicion as one landed atop the pedestal, unfolding its wings to stand tall.
I gasped.
“Hello, Evangeline,” the miniature woman greeted.
Glancing around, I saw that each butterfly had a tiny, human-like body
hiding within the expanse of her wings. Faeries?
“You may call us that,” she said. A musical giggle carried and multiplied as each mimicked the sound, until a beautiful, calming melody filled my ears.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I watched them dive into the bowl, plucking worlds and flying away, disappearing into nothingness.
“We are removing the worlds that the previous wardens let die. Do not despair. As new warden, you will have fresh worlds.” Gesturing above, I looked to see more faeries appear, colorful marbles within their grasp.
I didn’t understand her words. “Warden?”
Another giggle. “Yes, you are the new warden of this realm, which is under my dominion. I have deemed it to be so. You will protect and serve as my last wardens failed to do.” Her pretty face pinched. “With the almost limitless authorities granted and long periods of time, wardens sometimes lose sight of their true roles. They behave badly. That is why I gave you all four elemental powers to destroy them. A rather fitting end to their game, would you agree?” She leapt up in the air and twirled before landing again. “Their time had come. As single warden, there will be no need for power struggles or games in the future, correct?”
“Uh …” I faltered.
“Do not worry. You will grow accustomed to your new role. You will do well in it.”
Her confidence in me did not transfer. “I don’t know the first thing about … this … any of this. This is a mistake.” A role like this was more suited to Sofie.
Sofie!
Caden!
I immediately dropped to scan the surface of the bowl. How did I make that screen appear? Were they okay? Would I see them again?
“So many questions,” the faery laughed, obviously able to read my mind. As if choreographed, the faeries lifted off in unison, the one speaking joining them.
They were leaving.
“Wait!” I cried out. “But … I’m alone!” I frantically searched the white nothingness around me.
She drifted back down again, this time landing directly on top of Earth, a sympathetic smile filling her entire face. “You will never be alone if you do not want to be.” Her bare toe rolled over the smooth surface beneath her. “This is your origin. While you are limited to influencing the other worlds within your supervision, here …,” With a flutter of her wings, she lifted off to hover above the pedestal. “Anything you want is yours. It is our gift to you for your future service. May you thrive.”
She vanished into the hazy white nothingness.
“Anything I want is mine,” I repeated, reaching out to touch the smooth sphere.
It held everything I wanted.
Epilogue
“Dude! I never realized how much I missed this place.” Bishop slid down into the hot water, wrapping one arm around Fiona and another one around Amelie. A swift knuckle to his bicep from Julian and Bishop pulled his arm away from the pretty blond.
“I can see why you guys liked hanging out in here.” Julian’s eyes roved over the cavernous oasis with admiration.
I slipped into the water next to Caden, feeling his jade eyes inch over my scantily clad body, sending a thrill through me. “Does it look exactly like the real one?”
“With a few embellishments, of course,” I said, gesturing to the hundred-foot-high cliff. Amelie had insisted that the original wasn’t tall enough for her swan dives into the water below.
“I keep asking Evie to add gators to up the excitement but she refuses. I don’t know why.” Bishop leaned his head back to relax.
Because she’ll be fishing your heart out of their stomachs at least once a day for being the idiot who tries to turn them into pets, Max’s gravelly voice retorted as he meandered past, his brothers in tow.
Chuckles erupted around the spring.
“We all really don’t need to have Max in our heads, Evie. You can switch that up anytime.”
“If I have to suffer, then you all do too. It’s only fair.” Resting my head against Caden’s strong, sculpted chest, I sighed softly. I’d gladly stay like this for the day.
The little faery hadn’t been kidding when she said I could have anything I wanted. I had everything I wanted at my fingertips. I may not have any clue what being a “warden” meant, but I figured out how to get what I needed very quickly.
In seconds, the empty white nothingness held everyone I loved. And they hadn’t left me since.
“Evangeline, I’d like to go see Veronique,” a soothing French voice said.
Caden’s arm tightened around my waist as if to hold me in place, but after a light pinch against his ribs and a quick kiss on his cheek, I squirmed away. I hopped out of the hot springs and walked over to the vessel. It didn’t matter what world I conjured—the Oasis, the ocean, a beach, the Siberian mountains—my responsibility in the form of a giant bowl of worlds was always there.
It would take some getting used to.
“You know I still have no clue what I’m doing, right?” I waved my hand to pull the image pool across. An image appeared of Veronique kneeling in front of a garden at the French countryside home she and Mortimer shared, planting spring bulbs.
“You seem to be figuring things out quite well.” Sofie smiled, reaching out to clasp hands with the tall, dark-haired man next to her. “Ready to go see your brother-in-law?”
Nathan rolled his eyes and I laughed. I found most of his facial expressions amusing because he was so different from his doppelgänger, Wraith. Those idiot Fates and their sick imaginations. If they’d had a circle of friends as I did, would they have abused their powers in such a manner?
“Maybe you can convince them to join us next time,” I suggested.
It was Sofie’s turn to roll her eyes. “You know Mortimer. He’ll come for a visit but he prefers the real world. And now that everything is under control, they’re enjoying themselves. They were even going to visit Manhattan. He wanted to show Veronique the atrium, seeing as it was built for her.” Sofie paused, her smile sliding only slightly. “I’ll talk to Mage and see what she thinks about the situation there.”
Though the city stood as pristinely as before, the bombing itself had not yet been erased. I wasn’t sure how it could be done without ramifications to the human world. Would I fix one issue only to have it snowball into another? It seemed I would be learning what a warden of magic did through trial and error, for I hadn’t seen so much as a butterfly wing since being “appointed” to my new role.
As it was now, the miraculous rebuild of Manhattan had the entire world on pause. Some believed it to be the work of angels, while others—those who had not witnessed it firsthand—convinced themselves that it was a disgusting political hoax. Regardless, citizens united in recovery efforts and a time of peace—though temporary—held more trouble at bay. The Sentinel had gone underground with Galen tagging along to keep tabs. Mage monitored the sorceresses closely. Regardless, they wouldn’t be granted any “causal enchantments” anytime soon because I hadn’t the first clue how to receive them. Right now, the only requests that ever reached my ears were Sofie’s. I supposed that granting the Witches Order requests wouldn’t be a problem. It would simply be a matter of what I wanted to grant.
And all the other worlds in my realm? The thousands of tiny globes waiting for my attention? They’d definitely be waiting a while.
Still, Mage’s concerns were valid. Peace was only ever temporary. And when the flipside reared its ugly head again, would I interfere? Would the faeries deem that a misuse of my power? With no limitations set out for me, what would earn my expulsion?
“How is Mage? Will she come with you?” I asked.
Sofie smiled as Nathan pulled her to his chest. She hadn’t stopped smiling since I’d brought him back to her. “Maybe once she finds that special someone, I can convince her. We’ll see.”
“Okay, well … say hello to everyone. Let me know when you want to come back.”
Placing a kiss on my forehead, Sofie beamed. “I will.” Her eyes s
earched the pool. “I assume you will all behave while we’re gone?”
My flat look made her chuckle.
“And where will we be living next?” Nathan asked in his deep Parisian accent, his eyes roaming the cave.
Given I could change our entire surroundings with the twitch of a finger, everyone was getting their choice of location. “Well, it’s Julian’s pick, so…”
“Rivendell!” Julian hollered.
Nathan’s blank look—he’d only recently learned what a television was—cracked me up.
“Well, I hope it will be brighter. This cave dwelling is a bit tiresome,” Nathan said with a teasing smile.
“Aren’t you leaving?” Bishop yelled. The Oasis had been his pick.
“Okay, see you when you’re ready.” With just a thought from me, I watched Veronique’s excitement in the image pool as they appeared before her crouched form.
Now that I was up, I decided to check in on someone. The pool shimmered and shifted to Ratheus. I shuddered as Viggo’s cold blue eyes appeared, that vicious twinkle extinguished, replaced by a void. When I’d first shown the others what I had decided to do with Viggo—relegate him to a world without humans, a world he almost created with his own selfishness—they applauded me for my ingenuity. Looking at him now, though, his face marred with four gruesome gouges, sitting in a decrepit house with a hole-riddled ceiling and rainfall soaking through his tattered clothes, the only creature for miles, I felt only pity.
Though he undoubtedly deserved it, the human side of me—a side I hoped I would never lose—wondered if he felt a shred of remorse.
“He hasn’t moved in weeks.” Lilly called, reappearing after an afternoon of wandering around the jungle.
I couldn’t help but stare at her new, more womanly physical form, clad in a fitted tank top and tiny shorts. She had asked me to age her. She wanted to experience life from an adult perspective, to share her existence. I could tell by the way she watched Caden and me that she desperately wanted to understand what having that felt like.